WHERE IN THE WORLD WERE THE TRUDEAUS? — Canada’s PM and family spent Christmas vacation on an Imam’s private island

Canadian media seemed fixated on where the Trudeaus spent their Holid…I mean Christmas vacation. (Who knows what traditions patriarch Trudeau recognizes during the Holidays; He’s a stickler for “diversity.”) It turns out the Trudeaus spent Christmas vacation on a private island in the Bahamas owned by Aga Khan aka Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini, an Iman and the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims.

Being the Ismaili version of the Pope is apparently a lucrative business:

He’s also one of the world’s wealthiest royals, according to a 2010 Forbes magazine list.

The federal government provides tens of millions of dollars in funding to the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada every year.

Interestingly, a spokeswoman for the Ethics Commissioner told CTV News via e-mail that details about the PM’s vacation plans were not known by the office and that more details about the trip would need to be known to determine if the trip constituted a conflict of interest.

Khan has several honorary degrees from Canadian universities and was the recipient of the Honorary Companion of the Order of Canada in 2005. He also served as an honorary pallbearers at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral with other such notables as Leonard Cohen, Fidel Castro, and Jimmy Carter.